Vatican City  - Africa can claim some of history's greatest biblical centres, but today the holy scriptures remain unaffordable to many of the continent's people, a Nigerian cleric on Tuesday told the Roman Catholic bishops Synod meeting.

Abuja  - Nigerian militants have released British citizen David Melford, who was abducted two weeks ago, a spokesman for the military in the oil-rich Niger Delta region said Saturday.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir Musa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that no ransom was paid to secure the release of the expatriate, who was abducted in Eleme in Rivers State.

Nairobi/Abuja - A Nigerian militant group has said that none of its fighters were among hundreds of youths arrested in the oil-rich yet restive Niger Delta province.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said Tuesday that over 400 youths were arrested following reports that militants were recruiting to replace those killed during a recent upsurge in attacks on oil facilities.

Nairobi- Nigeria's Supreme Court on Thursday set October 23 as the date for a court case challenging the April 2007 election of President Umaru Yar'Adua.

Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidates of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Action Congress respectively, filed the petitions after they had lost at the lower Court of Appeal on March 8.

Abuja - Nigeria's most prominent militant group said Sunday it was calling a ceasefire after a week of attacks on oil installations in the restive Niger Delta province.

Jomo Gbomo, spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa that the "oil war" it declared last Sunday was being called off.

The militants attacked platforms, pipelines and oil flow-stations owned by Chevron, Shell and Agip during the week-long step-up in hostilities.

Abuja - Militant rebels carried out new